1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a device for connecting an electric motor intended for use in a fuel tank, in particular of a motor vehicle, having connection contacts, carbon brushes that slide over an armature of a rotor, and electrical leads arranged between the connection contacts and the carbon brushes.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Devices of this kind are usually produced as a unit together with the carbon brushes and are known in practice. In this case, the electric motor used in the fuel tank serves to drive a fuel pump. In the device known from practice, connection contacts are mounted on a plastic part. The electric motor can be connected to a power supply system of the motor vehicle via the connection contacts. In addition, an interference-suppression part, which has one capacitor and two interference-suppression inductors is usually arranged in the plastic part. The plastic part is connected to the electric motor. The subregion of the lead which is routed out of the plastic part is designed as a flexible copper wire and routed as far as the respective carbon brush which is in contact with a collector of the electric motor. One disadvantage of the known device is that the electrical lead is corroded and subsequently destroyed in aggressive media, for example fuel.
DE 199 21 540 A1 discloses extrusion coating the region of the connecting point of an electrical lead to a contact element with a fuel-resistant plastic. The fuel-resistant plastics mentioned are POM and PPS. It has been found here that extrusion coating with POM or PPS leads to a high degree of rigidity of the electrical lead. Due to wear of the carbon brushes, they have to be adjusted in order to remain in contact with the collector. Permanent contact between the carbon brushes which are subject to wear and the collector is no longer ensured due to the high degree of rigidity of the electrical lead.